


Follow Me

by gnarf



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Albus Dumbledore Dies, Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Creature Fic, Hogwarts Astronomy Tower, Horcrux Hunting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 03:40:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17317394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gnarf/pseuds/gnarf
Summary: Draco had clear instructions: go with Potter, help them finish the job.Harry got told he had to take Draco with them, to keep his friends safe.The Horcrux hunting retold in little glimpses, showing what would have been if things were a bit...different.





	Follow Me

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for the beta Chris/keyflight790💜💜💜
> 
>  
> 
> I hope you enjoy what I wrote here :)

**_Draco,_ **

 

**_I await you at my classroom tonight after dinner._ **

**_Your success in this night's lesson will be crucial for your future._ **

 

**_Severus_ **

  
  


Draco read the letter over and over again until his eyes couldn't focus anymore. Last time Severus had said something along these lines was the night he had learned to shield his mind from intruders, no matter how powerful. 

 

And he was right. It was crucial for his future. If he hadn't known how to trick the Dark Lord and make him believe that Draco was a loyal follower he'd be dead by now. Now he only had to worry about getting the timing right. The timing of Dumbledore's death.

 

* * *

 

**_I found another one, Harry._ **

**_And this time I'll take you with me._ **

**_Meet me in my office after dinner._ **

**_Bring your cloak, and a wake mind._ **

**_It is indispensable for you to watch closely tonight, and to do exactly as I say._ **

 

**_Albus Dumbledore_ **

  
  


This was it; finally, he was able to help and find a horcrux. His hands shook as he shoved the letter into his pocket before he jumped up and pulled Hermione and Ron into his dormitory to tell them. 

 

Hiding the invisibility cloak under his robes, he made his way to the Great Hall. He wasn't hungry at all now, but he had the feeling he should prepare for tonight. And eating something would definitely help him. 

 

* * *

 

“You can't be serious! You want me to do what? Don't you know what will happen tonight? Severus I can't do that!”

 

“Don't be dumb, Draco. It's the only way you will survive. I can't help you anymore after tonight. This is what I was preparing you for!”

 

Draco looked at his godfather with furrowed brows. He knew he probably looked like a moody child to Severus right now but he didn't care. Not if this was the outcome. 

 

He had done everything they had said. He took the Dark Mark, he attempted lazy tries to kill Dumbledore so nobody would know. He nearly got killed by stupid Potter in a dirty old bathroom after all of this got too much for him and they wanted him to do even more, to suffer more, to take more risks. 

 

“Draco, you have to do it. There is no way around it. You know everything will change tonight, I can't do it anymore. You have to, else this will never end.”

 

“Fine! I don't think your great plan will work out, simply because they'll never trust me enough. But I'll do as told. Can't be worse than this shit here.”

 

“Good. Now finish your potion. It has to be perfect.”

 

* * *

 

“With all due respect, professor, you can't be serious?” 

 

“Ah, I'm worried I am. It's the only way we can make sure you and your friends are safe.”

 

“But Hermione can do it! She only has to practice a bit more! You'll see—”

 

“— our time ran out, Harry. There isn't enough left for her to practice. You'll leave tonight. And you won't come back to Hogwarts after that. Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger know by now, they are preparing your farewell this very moment. There is no other way.”

 

The small boat reached the island and Harry chewed on his tongue to stop it from snapping at Dumbledore. There was no chance they'd survive this. Not under these circumstances. He was sure Hermione could brew the potion, she nearly had it last month. 

 

“Harry, you promised to do as I say. Trust me. It is necessary. Now let's see what we've got here, shall we?”

 

* * *

 

“Leave the boy, Bella. I'll do it. I waited far too long for this moment to let a spoiled brat take it from me.”

 

“You?  _ You?  _ You'd never touch him,” Bellatrix laughed. 

 

Draco's heart beat way too fast as he watched the scenes in front of him play out. He had led them here, he had disarmed Dumbledore, and now it was Severus’ turn to take over. He knew what would happen next, but that didn't make it easier to watch; he wanted to puke, to flee, to vanish into thin air like Potter had. He knew he was there, Severus had said he would be, and Draco had no idea if Potter knew what he knew. He had no idea what Potter will do to him as soon as they were alone. 

 

“Severus — please —” Dumbledore's voice was weak. Whatever he had done to get the thing, he already was nearly dead. 

 

“Avada Kedavra!” Green light flashed out of Severus’ wand and his aunt laughed furiously as Dumbledore fell over the rim of the Astronomy Tower and all the way down to the ground. Draco's stomach made a twist and he nearly threw up. This was it. The end of what they had known.

 

* * *

 

“Look at my sisters baby, look at his shocked little face. So weak.” 

 

Harry knew Dumbledore was dead the second the body bind fell off of him but he couldn't move. He didn't even dare to breath loud as Lestrange made fun of Malfoy, it was important they wouldn't discover him here. 

 

“Stop it, Bella, let's go. We finished what we were here for,” Snape said with a cold voice. 

 

“What should we do with him? Should we take the useless baby back with us so the Dark Lord can take care of him, or do we finish him here for his failure?” Lestrange took a few slow steps towards Malfoy who tried to back away from her. 

 

“We'll leave him here, pretend he wasn't involved. Maybe he can help us spy on this rotten place and the students in it next year. Let's go.”

 

Blowing a kiss at Malfoy, Lestrange laughed and turned on her heels to follow Snape downstairs. 

 

Harry waited long enough to be sure they had vanished from the staircase before he pulled the cloak off of him. His body shook with rage as he jumped up and stepped towards Malfoy to grab him by his arm and drag him all the way to the portrait of the fat lady without saying a word.

 

* * *

 

Draco stumbled more than walked behind Potter. He knew what would happen tonight but his whole body felt numb from fear. This was a close call, too close for his liking. And something told him it would only get worse from now on. 

 

When they reached their goal, he spotted Granger and Weasley standing there. Granger had tears in her eyes and she was clutching a small purse to her chest but nothing about their appearance hinted towards them leaving this place now. 

 

“Harry? What is he doing here?! We can't —” Weasley burst out, but Potter interrupted him. 

 

“Dumbledore's order. He was pretty clear about it. Malfoy is our new potions master for whatever happens next,” Potter said, speaking for the first time tonight. 

 

“Is he really — is Dumbledore really dead? Molly sent us her Patronus right after you left.” Granger said, her voice shaking. 

 

“Yes. Let's go before they stop us.” Turning around to Draco, Potter looked at him with a disgusted expression on his face. “I hope Dumbledore knew what he did when he told me to take you with us, Malfoy.”

 

Turning on his heels, Potter strode off and the others followed suit. Draco had no desire to follow them, but he had to. If Severus was right, this was the only way they'd survive what was about to come. 

 

And with Dumbledore gone, Draco knew the war had officially begun. 

 

* * *

 

Harry was restlessly pacing the room. He wished he could go to the Burrow for the holidays, but it was too dangerous. Hermione and Ron stayed with him but they were wise enough to not bug him about his behaviour right now. The only one who did was Draco-sodding-Malfoy who left no opportunity unused to roll his eyes at him or huff at what he said whatever it was and Harry was already sick of it. He had no idea why they had to take him with them. 

 

Of course he knew. Malfoy's abilities in potions were crucial for them if they wanted to stand any chance against Voldemort and his goddamn horcruxes. But he had decided to ignore it in sake of his own good. At least he had something else that busied him and kept him occupied like that. 

 

A strong knock on his door made him jump and flash his teeth. He had no desire to talk to someone right now. He felt trapped and restless and he wanted to do things, but instead he was locked up in Grimmauld exactly like Sirius had been. 

 

The door opened and Malfoy strode in. “I finished the potion, Potter. Take it and let me go back to my room so we both can suffer in peace, will you?” He said with a bored voice. 

 

Harry wanted to scream, to throw the fake horcrux at the stupid gits face and demolish this house with everything in it. But he knew that was only for now, he'd feel better soon, as far as Malfoy brewed the fucking potion correctly. So. Instead of screaming he huffed and took the cup from Malfoy's hands and drank it with a few large gulps before handing it back to him. 

 

When the door was closed behind Malfoy, Harry threw himself onto his bed and screamed into his pillow. This wasn't fair, it wasn't like they had planned to do this. The horcrux shouldn't be a fake one, they should be at the Burrow tomorrow, should celebrate a wedding in a few weeks. Instead they were here and had no idea what to do. 

 

Pulling out the snitch Dumbledore had given him the day before he died, he watched it fly around his room until the sky outside his window turned pink and a loud click was heard from his door. 

 

The night has come. Once again. 

 

* * *

 

Somehow over the last couple of weeks, Draco had managed to become civil with Granger and Weasley. Potter, on the other hand, was another chapter. 

 

His mood swings were unbearable sometimes. One day he was his normal self; he chatted, he laughed, he discussed plans with them. Only to flinch at everything and everyone the next day and do nothing else than stay away from them. 

 

Since they had to leave Grimmauld after their disastrous visit at the Ministry, it only got worse. At least they had the reassurance that his potion worked before they had to leave the dusty house behind and move into a tent. Draco had no idea what they would do if it didn't. 

 

Stirring the cauldron one last time, he cleared the flames underneath it and filled the potion into a cup before he stood and made his way towards the tent. 

 

Finding Potter in his bed he nudged him with his foot until he looked up. 

 

“Here's your potion.”

 

Potter blinked at him a few times before he sat up with a sigh to empty the cup. At least he wasn't in a mood at the moment. 

 

“Thank you, Malfoy.”

 

“That's what I'm here for, Potter.” 

 

“I'm sorry for being like that sometimes,” Potter said, not really looking at him. 

 

“Like what?” 

 

“Moody, an arse, difficult to handle, a real monster. Choose one, or all, they all are true.”

 

“I know you are sorry, Potter, and I don't care about your moods. It's not really your fault, and I can live with that just fine as long as you're not trying to kill me,” Draco chuckled. 

 

“You know I never wanted to kill you, don’t you? It was an accident, I didn't —”

 

“Severus told me. It's fine, Potter. Now sleep, you look like shit.”

 

* * *

 

Harry stood at the grave of his parents and felt tears rolling down his face but he couldn't care less about that.

 

He heard Ron and Hermione talk quietly a few rows behind him and he wasn't exactly sure if he wanted them to join him here or not. When he felt a warm hand on his cheek, he forced his eyes away from where his parents laid and looked up to find Draco looking at him with a sad expression on his face. 

 

Wiping away the tears on Harry's cheek, he pulled out his wand and summoned a bouquet of lilies and handed them Harry to put on the grave in front of them. His hands trembled as he took them to put them down before getting up again and taking Draco's hand in his. 

 

Harry had no idea when this had happened, but he knew he couldn't be happier to have Draco with them than he was this very moment. 

 

Somehow, Draco had become more to him than a secure way to get his necessary potions and he was very thankful he was there with him. 

 

* * *

 

A sniff next to his ear startled Draco awake. They had just managed to get away from Godric's Hollow yesterday without anyone getting harmed thanks to Weasley's quick thinking to chop off that beast's head when they found it attacking Harry. 

 

Aiming his wand at the noise, he heard a quiet whimper and he quickly withdraw it to cast a Lumos. 

 

His heart nearly jumped out of his chest when he looked in the eyes of a huge black wolf who stood in front of him, unmoving. Not once in all these months had he seen him like this. 

 

Reaching out he brushed his hand over the big fluffy head of the wolf before he let out a shaky laugh. 

 

“You know that you scared me to death, right? What do you need?” 

 

Another quiet whimper and a huge paw landed on his bed. 

 

“Really, Potter? You're the most pathetic werewolf I've ever seen. Come in then, but if you bite me, I swear by Salazar I'm going to kill you in the morning.”

 

His only answer was a quiet growl that nearly sounded like a laugh in his ears. 

 

Scooting over, he made space for Potter to squeeze his massive body into the small bed before he buried his hand in the thick fur. 

 

Potter was warm, a nice change for the freezing December nights, and Draco fell back asleep within a few minutes. 

 

* * *

 

“Don't you think that was a bit too easy?” Harry asked unsure. 

 

“Why? We got the cup, we destroyed it. Everything worked exactly like we planned.”

 

“Well that's it, isn't it? When did anything ever work like planned? We had to flee from your home only because we decided to visit someone. I'm really glad Dobby came to rescue us. But that you can simply walk into Gringotts and take the cup out of the vault? That was too easy.”

 

They were back in Draco's bed again, snuggled close to each other only for the sake of additional comfort. Hermione had destroyed the cup with the sword only an hour ago but Harry still wasn't sure that this had really happened. 

 

“It's like the goblin had said. It's a Black vault. Not Bella's private one. Every Black can enter it. Technically, I am one so they couldn't protest. Sometimes things are easy like that, Harry.”

 

“What are we going to do now?” Harry threw his arm around Draco and yawned. This was way too comfortable. He really should have done this sooner. 

 

“We wait, and look for the next clue. Somehow you fuckers are very lucky in finding them so I'm not worried about that.”

 

Harry laughed and closed his eyes. “Yeah. We're very lucky to find things we need, aren't we?” 

 

He could hear Draco's breath hitch for a second before he buried his hand in Harry's hair. A low “yes, we are.” was the last thing he heard before he fell asleep. 

 

* * *

 

Draco woke up to Harry dashing around in his sleep and he quickly knew it wasn't a normal nightmare. When Harry cried out, he called for Ron and Hermione, knowing he'd probably need them the second Harry woke up. 

 

After another minute, Harry bolted up and muffled a scream in his hand before he took a few deep breaths to calm down again. 

 

“What happened, Harry?” Hermione asked with a low voice. 

 

Harry's whole body shook and Draco wrapped his arms around him, something he noticed would help him relax faster, while waiting for an answer. 

 

“He knows. He finally knows what we're doing. The goblins told Lestrange, he killed them all. The last one is at Hogwarts, we have to be there before he arrives. I've seen them all, including the snake, she was one of them. He's so angry. We have to hurry up.”

 

They all jumped into action at that and while Hermione and Ron packed the tent and released the spells around them Draco pulled Harry to the side, already afraid to hear the answer to his question. 

 

“Have you seen my parents? Are they — were they —?”

 

“No. They weren't there. I'm so sorry, Draco. I really wish I could tell you where they are.”

 

“No news isn't bad news at least.” Draco tried to smile but he failed and seconds later he found himself in a tight hug. 

 

“We'll find them when this is over, Draco. I promise.”

 

Draco's eyes filled with tears while he hugged Harry back, and his heart hurt when he thought of what would happen tonight. 

 

They hadn't seen his parents while they were captured at the Manor and Draco was already worried sick then, but now it felt like a heavy weight pressing him towards the ground and he had no idea how he could fight it. 

 

Not alone at least. Harry was with him, and Harry made things easier. 

 

* * *

 

The  _ final battle _ as it got called by the press was two months and one week ago. Time that passed like a film. 

 

Harry dragged himself from trial to trial. He spoke for Snape who had managed to get Draco's parents away from the Manor after Draco hadn't returned for the break. 

 

Snape, who had found him with a shredded diadem in his hands and told him that he needed to die. Who had busied Draco with securing the castle while Harry had dragged himself towards the enemy to die, his heart hurting because only then did he realise that he should have told Draco that he loved him. 

 

But it was too late. And he died without saying it. 

 

When he woke up again, someone already levitated him towards the castle. Risking a glimpse, he saw Snape. Snape who killed Voldemort in the end. 

 

After that, most of the Death Eaters fled, but one after one they were found and brought to the Ministry. 

 

Long days there always drained him, made him tired and restless. But Harry knew it'd be better as soon as he came home. 

 

Because at home, Draco was waiting for him. He'd get a kiss and they'd eat together and speak about their day. 

 

On full moons, Harry would take his potions and curl up next to his human at night to get the love only he could give him. 

 

And the next day, he'd visit Remus to tell him he had to stop feeling sorry about turning Harry in his third year. 

 

He had found Draco, and Draco had found him. 

 

All was well. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I would love it if you leave a comment or kudos for my fic 💜
> 
>  
> 
> [Visit me on tumblr!](https://gnarf.tumblr.com/)


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